What you don't know can cost you: Testing wireless networks for revenue assurance

Do you know how much lost revenues are costing you today? Whether you are an established cellular carrier or a new PCS provider, the losses can be substantial if you do not have an effective revenue assurancestrategy.

Industry analysts estimate that between 3% and 6% of all billable-minute revenues are lost because of absent or incorrect billing records. For many wireless operators, that can translate to annual six-figure losses per switch. For those without an established revenue assurance process, the losses can exceed 15%.

Where are these billable revenues lost? The answer is alarming: anywhere and everywhere revenues can be earned.

Causes and consequences Revenue loss generally can be traced to any one or a combination of four distinct functions within the overall revenue assurance operation: billing and rating analysis, switch record confirmation, switch translation verification and service validation.

These losses take the form of service and billing errors. Inconsistent service, misrouting of calls, underbilling or overbilling of calls, and even a total failure to bill are common sources of revenue loss and therefore a concern for revenue assurance managers.

Wireless operators are all too familiar with the consequences of such errors and the resulting revenue leakage, customer care issues and churn.

The organizations charged with minimizing revenue leakage have a vital mission. They must improve the carrier's overall product while positively affecting the balance sheet. The situation is further complicated by today's increased competition. To remain competitive in this environment, service providers must supply seamless, ubiquitous service and accurate, timely billing statements-all while containing operational costs and retaining revenues. This formidable challenge demands the performance of a variety of retention activities.

The complexity of this challenge drives wireless service providers to search beyond early revenue assurance products for a more comprehensive and effective revenue assurance solution. The objective is to revamp the revenue assurance process and automate manually intensive tasks to achieve a more comprehensive solution.

The goals of a such a solution are twofold. The wireless carrier must first maximize the audit capability of the revenue assurance organization, and second, minimize operational costs associated with meeting the first goal. The carrier wants a positive and timely return on the required capital investment.

Critical applications To accomplish these goals, a complete solution must automate many of the manual call auditing and billing analysis functions performed today. It must allow the wireless operator to adequately address three critical applications: verification of call and billing accuracy; confirmation of switch translations, call data records and billing records; and identification of any service-affecting errors before new network upgrades or installations affect customers.

Verification of call and billing accuracy requires the revenue assurance system to simulate subscriber call scenarios. It also necessitates the collection and reporting of results to confirm the proper operation of all subscriber services.

The scenario requirements include the origination and termination of myriad mobile-to-mobile (local and roaming) and mobile-to-wireline (local, long-distance, and international) calls in order to adequately duplicate subscriber call activity. For sufficient duplication of all call scenarios, a comprehensive solution must simulate both analog and digital service offerings. Furthermore, in the case of digital service, it is essential that enhanced services such as voice mail, call forwarding and over-the-air activation can be fully exercised.

While executing call scenarios, the solution also must provide for the accumulation and storage of the results needed to confirm that services are functioning correctly. These results vary from origination/termination numbers and call duration results, all the way to service function results such as caller ID numbers and voice mail waiting indicators. To confirm many enhanced services such as voice-activated or voice mail services, it is imperative that the system allows for the collection and storage of audible results.

Confirmation of switch translations involves establishing the accuracy of data translation tables, call records and billing system information for the same subscriber call scenarios. The objective is to confirm that calls are terminated to the proper location, routed in a least-cost fashion and billed correctly.

Technicians can use a combination of audible results and service functionalities (for example, caller ID) to confirm that a call has been originated, routed and terminated correctly. Routing and billing information can be analyzed and compared with anticipated results based on the type of call and corresponding billing information.

A revenue assurance solution also must validate service and billing functionality in conjunction with new network upgrades or switch installations. The focus is to adequately exercise added network services before a customer launch to prevent customers from experiencing any service-affecting errors with new services as well as with existing services. The window of time in which these regression tests can be performed is planned but typically narrow. Therefore, real-time operation is essential to ensuring that enough scenarios can be confirmed during tight maintenance windows.

Finding a solution Operators are beginning to recognize that an automated, centrally managed approach is the only viable method for meeting these objectives, goals and critical applications while minimizing operational costs.

Past solutions required personnel to travel to various geographic locations to perform call audits. This process was highly manual and inefficient and significantly increased overhead costs. A centrally managed approach can replace this expensive and ineffective process, allowing for the redeployment of valuable resources.

One solution is the AirAudit Revenue Assurance System developed by TTC. AirAudit employs a centrally managed approach to address revenue leakage in a cost-effective way. The system is based on a central workstation networked with distributed call processors. Each call processor is equipped to originate and terminate both wireless and wireline calls for accurate simulation of wireless subscriber call activity (Figure 1).

The central workstation provides full control over the call processors and gives operators the ability to execute call audits from the desktop. This architecture is reinforced by the unique integration of voice-over-IP technology throughout the system. Once deployed, the system can dramatically reduce the number of resources required to generate audit calls and improve audit call capability.

In searching for the ideal solution, operators should select a system that enables proactive audit calls in a cost- and time-effective manner while allowing for phased deployment and implementation. Such an approach will maximize operator flexibility and minimize the time to benefit and revenue retention. The automation of revenue assurance operations today will ensure the revenues and success of wireless operators in the future.